I saw a documentary about humor a while ago. They went all over the world asking people on the street/veldt/mountain to tell them a joke. The idea was to see if there were truly ethnic or cultural differences in humor. The most interesting part was that they heard very similar jokes in India, Mongolia, London, etc. Often along the lines of "did you hear about the (fill in name of group who lives near you but who you think is culturally inferior) who tried to blow up a jeep? He burnt his lips on the tailpipe." They did find a fairly consistant difference between male and female humor which also crossed cultures.They also used one joke involving two dogs who watch various things happen. (It is fairly long but I won't tell it properly here)) The first dog says woof and the second says "Hey I was going to say that."They repeated it with about twenty animals and appropriate noises. Apparently the dog is the funniest animal, again across most cultures. I can't remember who came second.

a pun, not an ethnic jokeTo me, it is neither, but that horribly wonderful invention, the Shaggy Dog Story.

The classic SDS relies on inordinate length, culminating in an atrocious inversion of initial letters (which AIN'T a pun!) - like the "Basques in one exit" story (in its many variations.)

Or the punchline to the story of the African chieftain who collected thrones and kept them in the roof of his house, which was constructed of straw and eventually fell down, proving convincingly that people who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones.

Forsooth! "Putting all your basques in one exit" is not, by your definition, an SDS since it is more than "an atrocious inversion of initial letters." And I have to admit that I put in the word atrocious only because you did!

If I were to comment on one's habit of making manifold requests I might say, "Don't put all your begs in one askit" and by your definition that might be an SDS. But in my opinion they is ALL puns.

Am I correct in assuming that you reserve the term pun for those bon mots that use alternative spellings of words with the same pronunciation to invoke a groan from the audience? As in the man whose three sons had a cattle ranch which he called Focus Farm because it's where the son's raise meat. Which the late great IA called the most perfect pun in the English language.

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